Terry Holliday, Ph.D., was selected as Kentucky’s fifth commissioner of education in July 2009.

Holliday served as superintendent of the more than 20,000-student Iredell-Statesville school district from 2002 until 2009. Under his leadership, the Iredell-Statesville school district received the 2008 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which was created by an act of Congress in 1987 to recognize companies, organizations, businesses and other entities that have shown long-term improvement in quality and productivity.

Holliday’s previous experience includes serving as superintendent, associate superintendent, director of accountability, principal, assistant principal, director of instrumental music and band director in North Carolina and South Carolina.

In December 2010, Holliday was named to the board of directors for the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) for 2010-11. CCSSO is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions.

In September 2011, Holliday was appointed to serve a four-year term on the National Assessment Governing Board. The board sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the Nation’s Report Card.

Holliday is the co-author of Running All the Red Lights: A Journey of System-Wide Educational Reform.

Registration/Check-In: 8:00am - 9:00am, Embassy Suites Lobby

kY-Talk Sessions: 9:00am – 4:45pm

led by Dr. Dennis Davis,
the director of guitar studies at EKU

Click here For more information on their Educational Outreach and performance
schedule

embassy suites manager's reception 5:30-7:30pm in the atrium

Dinner is on your own - at the embassy suites' Paddock Grille, or one of the area's restaurants

Friday, March 1

General Sessions – 9:00am – 12:00pm

Lunch: 12:10 – 1:00pm, With Entertainment Provided By the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University

The Center and student
Ensemble are led by Raymond McLain, Director, Jesse Wells, Music
Archivist/Instructor, and Nathan Kiser, Operations Manager.Click here For more information about the
KCTM and its outreach efforts.

Door Prizes will be Given Away and then We'll Hear the

Dr. Thompson is the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education and a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. Thompson has a Ph.D. in Sociology in areas of Organizational Behavior/Race and Gender Relations. Thompson has researched, taught and/or consulted in areas of assessment, diversity, leadership, ethics, research methodology and social statistics, multicultural families, race and ethnic relations, student success, first-year students, retention, and organizational design. He is nationally recognized in the areas of educational attainment and academic success, leadership, diversity and cultural competence, law enforcement training, curriculum development, African American fatherhood, divorce in the Black family, and Black and White differences in marital expectations.

His upcoming books are, Changing Student Culture from the Ground Up and The Sociological Outlook. He has more than 30 publications and numerous research and peer reviewed presentations. Thompson has traveled over the U.S. and internationally and has given more than 700 workshops, seminars and invited lectures in areas of leadership, strategic planning, race and gender diversity, living an unbiased life, overcoming obstacles to gain success, adult learners, creating a school environment for academic success, cultural competence, workplace interaction, organizational goal setting, building relationships, the first-year seminar, and a variety of other topics. He has been or is a consultant to educational institutions, corporations, non-profit organizations, police departments, and other governmental agencies. In addition, Thompson’s research has been cited in popular publications such as Cosmopolitan,